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Thursday, April 3, 2014

Whew! The 2014 Symposium has closed, and I will declare it a success. For the fifth straight year, I was blown away by the work that students presented. It was clear that every presentation of the day was fueled by hard work and passion. Congratulations to all the students and their faculty mentors.

Today I want to take a moment to thank a few people who are instrumental in making the Symposium run smoothly.

First, a huge thanks to all in the College of Arts and Sciences Dean's office, who support the program financially and administratively. This includes Dean Dawn Weber, who spearheaded the effort to start URCA five years ago, and who is the energy and spirit behind this event. Also included in this thank you are Associate Dean Michael Hupfer and the Dean's Assistant Patti Brown.

Second, I'd like to thank the members of the URCA Committee, who worked tirelessly on every aspect of this Symposium, but who were particularly instrumental during the abstract review and revision process. Thank you to Dr. Ted Avtgis (Communication Studies), Prof. Charles Caldemeyer (Art), Dr. Hilary Donatini (English), Prof. Fabio Polanco (Theatre), Dr. Michael Schwarz (History), and Dr. Andrew Trimble (Biology/Toxicology)

A tremendous thank you to Sarah Wells (Director, MFA Program) for her work in putting together the Symposium abstract book. It is beautiful and professional, and Sarah does an amazing job with it each year.

Next, I'd like to thank several people throughout the university who assisted with putting on the event. Thank you to Steve Hannan and Kris Kennedy, who were instrumental in the promotion and marketing of the event. Thank you to Jim Misel and the Catering staff for their work in preparing Upper Convo. Thank you to the Physical Facilities folks for taking care of the poster stands for us. Thank you to Steve Suess and the Early Birds Word crew at WRDL for their coverage of the event. Thank you to Brenda Rodeback, who helped facilitate several pieces of this whole puzzle.

Thanks to the faculty who mentored students, and to all faculty in the College who suspended classes for the day of the Symposium so that their students could participate and attend. Thanks to all who came and supported the event.

And last but not least, thanks to the students from the CAS Scholars Program, Tri Beta, Comm Studies, and Psi Chi who staffed the front table for us during the event. I'll close with a couple of pictures of their smiling faces:

I have fewer shots from the Oral Presentation sessions, partly because I worry about throwing presenters off by holding up my iphone during their talks, and partly because I often am too caught up in what they're saying to think about taking photos. Still, I managed a few:

Here, Dr. Michael Schwarz moderates Oral Session I:

Presenters Lauren Fattlar (Communication Studies) and Barbara Mooneyham (Art) met for the first time at URCA, but bonded quickly as they both prepared to present in Oral Session II:

Also from Oral Session II, Peter Kobunski presented his work on lead exposure:

What a fantastic set of poster/exhibition sessions! Students from departments across the College of Arts and Sciences presented their work during these sessions, which allowed for a lot of interaction between presenters and attendees. Here are some of the photos I was able to capture during the day: